Assistant Artistic Director – Jessica Helms

Jessica Helms – Assistant Artistic Director

Jessica Helms, accompanist and assistant artistic director of the Gold Coast Concert Chorus, is also Coordinator of Chapel Music for California Lutheran University, where she provides musical leadership for the many worship services on campus and directs the Lord of Life Worship Team as well as the CLU Chapel Choir, an ensemble consisting of students, faculty, staff, administrators, and local residents. She also accompanies the CLU Choir, Women’s Chorale, and Areté, CLU’s professional vocal ensemble, and coaches and accompanies many of the music department’s vocal students. Outside of CLU, she is on the board of the Ventura Chapter of the American Guild of Organists.

She graduated from California Lutheran University with a BA in Piano and Oboe and has done Master’s work at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey, where she studied with J.J. Penna and Dalton Baldwin She is currently working towards a MM in Choral Conducting at California State University, Los Angeles.

Jessica has accompanied for many choirs, ensembles, and soloists at various Ventura, Santa Barbara, and Los Angeles County locations including Newbury Park High School, Ascension Lutheran Church, Our Redeemer Lutheran Church of Oxnard, the Geraldine Decker Vocal Studio, Camarillo Community Theatre, All Saints by the Sea of Santa Barbara, CSULA, and Ventura College. She has previously been director and organist of College United Methodist Church of Ventura and director of Las Voces del Mar, the women’s chorale associated with the Pacific Shores Philharmonic Foundation. She has had the opportunity to perform across the country and throughout Europe, as well as work with many leading artists in a master class setting including Jo-Michael Scheibe, David Lang, Libby Larson, Emma Johnson, and Daniel Beckwith.